


A New Beginning (With You)

by catnip



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, M/M, Pre-Relationship, background Markus/Connor, david cage is wrong about everything, north and markus are best of besties, north is a disaster lesbian
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-06-11 00:53:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15303843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catnip/pseuds/catnip
Summary: Chloe comes to New Jericho to help the cause. North is smitten.





	A New Beginning (With You)

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, I really wanted to write just a little something for this silly pairing that probably only 5 other people ship. I even snagged some bits and pieces off of a much larger story idea I had, and still this turned out at.... 5k?? Which man, for me, is a lot. But it was fun to write. I love North, I love Chloe, I love Markus and North's bond, I love RK1000, so we got it all here folks. As a heads up for tag skimming folks, no, there is no Simon in this story. In my own personal "canon" he uh....stays on that roof. Sorry Simon! If i ever manage to pull another DBH story out of me, I'll make it up to you. Unbeta'd so all mistakes are my own.
> 
> Also, as for how Chloe became deviant herself..... _jazz hands_ it's a mystery.

Her arrival at New Jericho had been a surprise to all of them, to say the least. There were a great number of Chloe models taking safe haven among them – now know as Cathys and Charlottes and Carols and – but this was not a Chloe. She was _the_ Chloe. The first of them all.

The three of them had been called to what served as a makeshift lobby. In the beginning they had all been open with their time and attention (Markus especially) but with too many clamoring for it now and too many enemies trying to claw away at their cause necessary barriers had to be built. None of them liked it (Markus especially) but they understood.

“Hello, my name is Chloe. I’ve come because I’d like to help, if I can.” 

She extended her hand and North took it, closest to her that she was.

xxx

It had taken little convincing to bring her into the fold. Though she was an older model Kamski had kept her well repaired and fairly upgraded, allowing them all to easily interface and work together.

( _”However, I do not have all the same high functioning upgrades that some of you possess. I think Elijah resisted out of sentimentality.”_

_She had smiled so strangely then, and North held back the urge to ask just what that had meant._ )

That the other androids in New Jericho seemed to regard her with the same sort of wonder that they did the rest of the core crew also made her fit right in.

It was no small gift that Chloe had years and terabytes of experience to draw on when it came to secretarial and business matters. Going from a rag tag revolution to a well oiled lobbying machine was a far jump, and if they wanted to take it they’d need all the help they could get. North could hardly hide her awe as she came into their designated office space like a whirlwind, already talking through the information she had gleaned from connecting with all of them, organizing and clearing everything in her path as she did. Glancing over at Markus and Josh, their slack jawed faces matched her own.

Rounding on a desk in the corner to set aside a now neatly ordered stack, Chloe laughed at the trio of expressions greeting her. It was light and free, and devoid of any self consciousness, and some cluster of electronic braincells nestled in the back of North’s mind with no sense of proper timing decided it liked that sound. 

“I’m sorry, that’s probably all too much at once, isn’t it? I think part of me is eager to get back to work, after Elijah has been away from any CyberLife business for so long. It’s good to have….purpose. To help our people.”

“No, no, it’s great. It’s all great. Exactly what we’ve been needing in fact.”

True to his nature Markus was the first of them to recover, swooping in and steering the boat for the next 3 hours of discussion. Chloe left that night with promises to return in two days, and a furniture delivery so they could have a proper working space in one. They had tried to question how that was possible when most of the city was still shut down and most humans evacuated, but she offered little in return, just a sincere smile and assurances that she could get it done.

North had wanted to thank her, to let her know that if she had secrets she needed to keep she understood, but instead what came out was “I like someone who can get things done.”

Chloe had laughed again, and then she was gone, and Markus was eyeing her and the only defense she could offer was flipping him off and walking away with her head held high.

xxx

In the weeks that passed after the infiltration of the CyberLife tower and the tentative success of their people, it had been a scramble to organize. Androids still barely understanding themselves now looking for direction, for where they could best make a difference. Not only macro but micro – it was obvious that Markus would forever be the driving force for wherever their efforts went next, but luck and his undeniable brand of charisma could only continue to get them so far.

( _“Charisma? Really? I don’t think -”_

_“Really Markus? You gonna try to argue this?”_

_“I’m just saying! I’ve only been speaking the truth, and I think that resonated with people, and -”_

_“You don’t stage a peaceful overthrow of society itself with just _truth_ , Markus.”_

_Josh cut into their bickering with a grin, “If you don’t like charisma, let’s say you just have a certain je ne sais quoi that connects with androids and humans alike.”_

_“Alright, Professor,” North rolled her eyes with a smirk, “don’t try and act fancy. Any of us could downloaded French in a second if we wanted.”_ )

North had pretended to be affronted when Markus suggested that she might be better served in a more behind the scenes capacity. ( _”Are you saying I’m a loose canon that doesn’t play by the rules?” “You’ve been watching poorly made human movies again haven’t you?”_ ) But truthfully she was grateful, and knew Markus was doing her a kindness. The idea of having to shake hands with humans, to smile at them and play the delicate game of diplomacy still filled some part of her with a mix of dread and disgust. She was happy to have no part of it for now.

So, she found herself planning, scheduling, overseeing. Making sure people and things were where they needed to be and every angle of any scenario was anticipated and planned for accordingly. It was far and away from what humans had programed her for and maybe some part of her took to it with relish solely for that reason. 

She was starting to see that success was as much of a satisfying _fuck you_ as actually saying the words were.

It was still difficult work, however, and when Chloe joined them a second pair of helping hands was a welcome relief. Sometimes. Sometimes, the close proximity and late nights the two spent sequestered together in a room that somehow always felt too small no matter the space between them was overwhelming. But in a way that North couldn’t say she hated, at all.

The other android always seemed to move with a purpose that North both admired and envied. Though she had embraced her deviancy and her freedom from the moment it was granted to her, navigating that reality was not always as easy as that. But Chloe, she held a confidence in herself that North found hard to resist. A laugh, a frown, a frustrated slam of a data pad. To North, it seemed her emotions were embraced and seamless.

Sometimes she wondered, what Chloe was like before. Had she secretly been deviant all along? Or something like it? But it never felt right to ask. One of the few times Chloe seemed to falter was when the topic of Kamski came up. And it wasn’t quite sadness, or anger, or reluctance, but something complicated that North didn’t want to go poking at. She understood complicated. A tangled thing that would unravel itself in due time, one day, when it was ready.

(She knew through the grapevine that Connor, of all people, had met Chloe in that before time. But the former hunter didn’t come to New Jericho that often. And when he did he seemed a little bit like he was going to crawl out of his suits when he was around anyone who wasn’t Markus. And Markus totally didn’t seem to mind one bit, and truthfully, North didn’t either. He’d come around one day and until then she got to give her best friend endless shit for his blatant coddling.)

So she never asked, never pushed, just enjoyed every moment of the others company. They worked together, arms deep in the guts of the continued android revolution, and North tried not to think about how beautifully Chloe’s hair draped down from her shoulders when she bent over her desk, or how cute the pursed frown her lips set into as she stared at the map of Detroit pinned to the wall was.

xxx

“Do you want to stay tonight? It’s pretty late. We have enough rooms, if you need one just for tonight. Or even not just tonight. We could set you up with a place, just a crash pad, you know. If you ever need to take some down time and recharge.”

Chloe didn’t glance up from her typing at first, “My systems are alright,” and then she looked up with a smile, “and there are still so many of us without proper housing, I wouldn’t want to take away from someone who truly needs it. But thank you North.”

“Yeah, sure. No problem. I just know the drive out to that mansion of Kamski’s is pretty long.” North tried to not be disappointed, she was absolutely not disappointed, she was only trying to be a friend.

“It’s true, sometimes I wish I was closer to the city now. But I’ve learned to appreciate having the time to let myself relax a little. Just enjoy the drive.”

“That’s smart.”

“What do you do?” Now Chloe paused her typing, genuine interest on her face and in her tone, “To relax, I mean. Whenever I’m here you seem to always be going nonstop. I hope you find time for yourself.”

“I punch stuff, usually.” Chloe made a noise that came incredibly close to being described as a giggle, and North didn’t bother to hide her grin. “Practice different martial arts and that sort of thing, you know. It’s easy to download moves and execute them perfectly, but there’s something satisfying about letting lose and just going with it. No programming or anything.”

Chloe nodded, “I can see how that would be cathartic.”

Silence lapsed, and Chloe returned to her work, and though they still had so much bullshit to sort through North didn’t give a damn about getting back to it.

“I also read, sometimes. Like actually read. Not just pulling books up and speed scanning them.”

A whole three books, so far, one of which was truthfully abandoned halfway through when North had tossed the tablet across the room in disgust at her favorite character dying. Josh had eyed the mess still there the next day, but nodded with grave understanding when she explained herself. Trust the academic android to understand.

Still, she was trying. When she found the time.

And with the way Chloe’s eyes seemed to light up at the statement, she mentally fist pumped.

“Do you? I thought perhaps I was one of the only androids who enjoyed that sort of thing.”

They spent the next hour wandering through various topics; books they had read, books they wanted to read. The impressive expanse of literature humans had created so far and their seemingly endless ideas. Android novelists, if such a thing would ever come to pass and what stories they could tell.

The time came eventually for Chloe to leave, and asking her to stay again was on the tip of North’s tongue, but instead she said goodbye with a smile and a hug. 

When Markus showed up in the office that morning at 6’o clock promptly, North held up her finger to him before he could even open his mouth, 

“It’s not done yet. Like, 80%.”

Markus was eyeing her again, lips flattening into a thin line in an all too obvious attempt to push back a smile. “That’s fine, it’s no rush. And I trust you and Chloe to get things done, despite any….. distractions.”

Now North showed him a completely different finger, which only broke his not very well crafted composer and had him laughing.

“Always so rude.”

“Please. People in “I have a problem and it stars with a C” houses shouldn’t throw stones, _Markus_.”

“Ah….” properly sobered, Markus awkwardly rubbed at his jaw, “touche.”

Easy silence settled on them as Markus began to look over the work already laid out in its usual disorganized organized fashion along the conference table. But North couldn’t find it in her to focus anymore, and she slapped herself away from the table with a groan, sending her wheelie chair sliding back haphazardly.

“We are both so screwed.”

“Yeah,” Markus laughed, “pretty much.”

xxx

The problems named C finally met one day at New Jericho, and North only realized how ridiculous it was that they hadn’t before then once it happened. And also realized that it must have been something carefully planned on Connor’s part.

Connor was no longer technically a detective, or part of the force at all, but with humans only being allowed back into the city in a slow trickle the department wasn’t turning down his help. And employment or not he had a vastly better understanding of the human legal system than most of them, with the ability to see things in ways they couldn’t. Technically, crimes against androids were not yet illegal, and crimes committed by androids existed in some nebulous undefined area, but when they occurred New Jericho turned in part to Connor to help sort the mess.

They existed on a lot of technicalities, these days.

So there was Connor, explaining some case ruling from who knew how many years back in far too much detail for North’s taste, and then there was Chloe coming in to finally join them, and Connor -

Connor flubbed his words at the sight of her, which on its own was bizarre enough. And North could see Chloe tense up even as she quietly and quickly slipped into the room. Connor finished up his story in record time and with a promise to send all of them the other relevant information after he went back to the station to gather it up, and then he was gone. 

Markus tailed after him like a long shadow, and North quickly turned her attention to Chloe, who had put herself at a terminal in the corner of the room, back to all of them. 

Josh stared back and forth between the pair of them, shook his head, and left.

“Everything alright?”

Chloe turned, blinking a few times. Her LED blinked in turn, a bright yellow, and that set North’s teeth on edge. Chloe was always blue. Blue LED, blue dress, blue eyes. The only calm in this sea of craziness. She smiled, though it didn’t meet her eyes. 

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“Do you two have a….history?”

It was a challenge to keep her tone neutral, and she was proud of herself for succeeding. She had warmed up to Connor, and she trusted him now, but his past still existed despite who he had become. And North didn’t want to push. Still didn’t want to push. Let people come around in their own time.

It was so hard not to push. She wanted to push, to help.

The small chuckle Chloe gave almost sounded genuine. “You could say so. It’s not….” she paused now, shifting so she was full facing North, her hands clasping at her front. Her LED continued to whirl, but she seemed to be more lost in thought now than anything. “That’s my first time seeing Connor, since he came to Elijah for help. At least up close. I didn’t expect that interaction to cause…. distress.”

“What did he do?”

She must have been less successful in holding herself back this time, because Chloe’s eyes widened ever so minutely, and she held her hands up. Hovering there in the space between them, almost close enough to touch.

“Nothing. He could have, but he didn’t. It’s not about him, really.” Chloe seemed to wrestle with herself, and North let her, waiting patiently until one of her hands turned, offering itself palm up. “Maybe I could just….show you?”

Her voice sounded too small, too hesitant, and so North gripped her hand firm. Let her fingers curl protectively over the now exposed white palm as her own synthetic skin retreated. “Of course.”

The scene flooded into her, her thoughts joining along with it in rapid succession. _Kamski in a swimsuit, gross. Connor carries himself differently than he does now. Oh, so that’s what Lieutenant Anderson looks like. God, is this guy really our creator? He’s so smarmy – wait – no – no – that’s wrong, a gun, a gun, why is there a gun, don’t kneel down Chloe you don’t have to listen to him -_

The connection broke as the memory ended, and North unconsciously took a step back, arm frozen in place. She tried to shake the image of a gun pointed down at her (but no, not her) out of her mind, pull herself back. Chloe watched with some mix of curiosity and trepidation. 

“You-” the surprise faded away and in its place raw anger slotted in with a click, and North couldn’t hold back a sneer. “He did that to you? That mother fucker.”

“He would have fixed me, if… if Connor had taken the shot. I’m sure of it.”

“That doesn’t matter! He shouldn’t have put you in that position in the first place!”

North regretted her anger as soon as it came. Too many memories clouded her mind at once, Chloe’s dragging up ones of her own kicking and screaming. The bright red and supremely unhelpful LEVEL OF STRESS 75% blinked in her vision, and behind that interface Chloe was still gazing at her, unsure. 

Androids didn’t need to breath, but Markus had taught all of them that deep breathing exercises could be just as calming for them as they were for humans. So she took a few unpracticed gulps and hoped that was enough.

“He has no right to put your life on the line like that. To put you in danger and call it a _test_. You didn’t deserve that, Chloe.”

Hesitantly North reached out, offering her hand again. No connection. Just a small comfort that Chloe took.

“I know. He’s apologized for it, since then. And I know he cares in his own way. It’s.” Her fingers gripped a little tighter. “Complicated.”

“Yeah.”

“Elijah is complicated.” And there was that strange smile again. But North was happy to see it, happy to see her looking more relaxed.

“Not the word I’d use.” Chloe laughed at the jibe, and North was sure her body temperature must have gone up at least 15 degrees no matter what her sensors said. She just hoped Chloe couldn’t feel it. Thank god androids couldn’t get sweaty palms. “So you… still live with him, right? Is that okay?”

“It’s fine. Our relationship is good, I promise. I think I just never dealt with certain things. We never had to, before.”

North nodded because she understood. Understood all too well. “Well, you know you always have a place here, if you want it. And if you ever need anything, _anything_ , you know you can call on me. Alright? I’m serious.”

North fixed her with her best hard stare, but clearly she was losing her touch because Chloe’s smiled beamed at her brighter than the sun, and oh did every process in her body almost stutter to a halt at that.

“I know. And thank you North.”

Their hands eventually parted, and they made simple small talk to help ease away the last of the tension. Duty continued to call them however, and in time Chloe disappeared to a meeting long scheduled. North found it almost impossible to let her go, almost impossible to return to anything even approaching productivity. But with a few curse words and a chair leg sacrificed with a good hard kick, she managed.

xxx

Late night found North on the roof. A mishmash of lawn furniture was scattered around, chairs and a few tables. But the concrete lip of the building was wide, wide enough to comfortably sit on and let your legs dangle off the sides. The view wasn’t as good as it had been at the original Jericho. The building not quite as high. But it was still the place she loved to come best when all she wanted was a clear head and some quiet. Too many minutes that day had been wasted on the past, her past, and for now she only wanted to linger in the present.

She had been there for how long she wasn’t sure ( _1 hour 37 minutes and 29 seconds_ her internal clock would have told her, but she didn’t give a single shit) before the creak of the door and a familiar voice called to her.

“Everything good on your end?”

North glanced back, catching Markus’ eye for a moment and nodding before returning her attention to the skyline. “Yeah. Everything’s good. You?”

“All good.”

Markus settled in next to her, draping an arm around her shoulder as he did. She let herself be tugged into his side, head more than happy to take a rest on his shoulder.

“And you? Are you alright?” His voice was gentle, in a way that once upon a time she would have hated to hear. But now she took comfort from his quiet concern.

“Yeah. Just…. tired.”

Tired. It was still a strange feeling, a strange concept. Androids didn’t need physical rest. Mental rest, if you could call it that, to allow their systems to self check and stay optimal was a now and then necessity. Some of them had taken to calling it sleep, attempting to match the normal rest habits that humans kept even if so many hours of stasis was hardly ever needed. Most still did it simply when required, caring little for keeping hours that were deemed normal. 

But tired – that was a sensation they all felt now, somehow, from time to time. Though a scan would return no errors or deficiencies in functions, there was still a lingering feeling of sluggishness. Of just wanting to close your eyes and pause for a moment. North had heard a human expression once, _bone deep_ , and she felt like despite their anatomical differences she understood what it meant in those moments.

“I get that. I think all of us are due a little down time. Maybe you and Chloe can find a way to pencil that into the schedule.”

North let out a huff, jostling Markus in retaliation, getting back as good as she gave in return.

“But seriously. One day soon, we can all go out. Do something fun.”

North nodded her head against him, “Sounds like a plan.”

They continued to sit together as time ticked by, taking comfort from the vast free expansive of the sky and each other. Like they always had since the start.

xxx

Soon turned out to not be soon at all. Progress came, progress regrettably went, some pieces suddenly moving faster than everyone felt like they could cope with and others stalling. On top of work, the time had now come where they were having to travel outside the city, meet with people outside their carefully crafted bubble. A whole new mountain to begin scaling.

On a third day crunch North was visited by the mental image of herself standing, legs stretched between two escalators that kept jerking her in different directions. 

Josh had asked her what the hell she was smirking about, and the two of them had laughed themselves to tears at the absurdity of it. Of all of it.

One of the few bright spots in the endless grind for North remained Chloe. A hand on her arm, a tap at her shoulder to get her attention, a lingering brush as they passed work between them. The ever so slightly devious smile Chloe got when she thought up a way to fuck over someone as diplomatically as possible. All of it helped keep her going.

( _North waved goodbye at Chloe again, for a third time, lingering and watching the door after she had long passed through it._

_”You got it, you got it bad~”_

_It took only mere milliseconds for her to search through databases and find whatever awful song Markus was currently crooning behind her, and another second more for her to round on him and land a punch square on his shoulder._

_“Keep your stupid fucking oldies to yourself, Markus!”_ )

Eventually, a lull came, and with it a break. The trio had agreed to take a morning for themselves, and then meet in the afternoon to hang out. Somewhere actually outside, far away from New Jericho. North found herself dreading asking Chloe if she would like to join them, her programming apparently now riddled with some kind of virus that convinced her that she would say no to the invitation. Two days out from the designated date and she still hadn’t managed to muster up the confidence to do it.

“You know,” Josh had drawled that morning, “Markus still hasn’t asked Connor if he wants to come hang out with us.” He looked over at her, chin dropped, eyebrow raised, gaze pointed.

That had been the final push she needed, in the end. Getting to one up Markus was always too good an opportunity to pass up. Thank god that Josh knew her so well.

All her worry proved to be for exactly nothing, and Chloe was happy to come spend time with them. Or, with _”you”_ she had phrased it, so casually, and North had only been able to nod more mechanically than she ever had in her android life and change the subject.

xxx

North had taken the morning to do a bit of shopping, mostly window shopping. Androids certainly didn’t need as full a wardrobe as humans did, but she found she liked to look at clothes and things anyway, picking up the items that truly called to her. She knew Markus had gone to make a visit home to Carl, but Josh had been cagey about his plans, saying he was simply going out. They’d have to interrogate him about that later.

They’d decided that a park was a good meeting spot, and when North arrived everyone else was already there. “Fashionably late, I see!” Josh called to her across the grass when he spotted her.

“Yeah, yeah. You know me.”

It was only a few seconds later that North suddenly found herself splayed out across said grass, flat on her back and staring up at a strange mixture of blue sky and an unidentified brown and white mass.

“Sumo, no! Bad dog!”

There was a rumbling of air and then the mass moved, and North felt herself finally reconnect with reality. A dog. There was a dog on her. In a moment it was gone, and a pair of hands were helping her sit up.

“I’m sorry. That’s Sumo, he’s very….” Connor let out a sigh, “clumsy. But nice.”

North allowed herself to be helped up, and only then realized it was Chloe beside her gripping her arm, and despite how fucking embarrassing that was she smiled at her in thanks before dusting off the bottoms of her pants. The dog, Sumo, now sat at Connor’s feet, looking much more well mannered than he had a moment ago as his tail thudded against the ground.

“No big deal. He’s cute, so I’ll let it slide.”

“He is, isn’t he?” Connor scratched the pup’s head, seeming to have already forgotten his annoyance with his transgressions. “He belongs to Hank. I usually take him to the park at least once a week anyway, so I thought I would let him tag along.”

Sumo proved a welcome addition to the outing, ready to run and play and barrel head first into things on accident for their amusement. Eventually he tired, not even the natural exuberance of dogs able to keep pace with a group of androids, and they all found a shaded spot to settle. Chloe had been smart enough to bring a blanket large enough for them to lay out and sit on, and the afternoon passed them by pleasantly, no words spoken of politics or laws or work. 

And when North shifted a bit and hesitantly, lightly, let her hand come to rest over Chloe’s, and Chloe simply smiled as she continued to listen to Markus speak, well – there had been no better moment than that.

All too soon the sun began to set, and Connor was the first to leave, citing his need to get Sumo back home. Markus all but tripped over himself as he lept to his feet and offered to escort him home, and North watched with a smirk as the pair walked away, practically glued side to side to each other.

Josh lingered for a little while more before excusing himself, giving North a look as he left that she decided to not deign with a response. 

Despite often being just the two of them, here and now North felt her artificial nerves jitter and her thirium pump stutter. Which she knew was not actually physically possible unless she was about to experience an imminent breakdown, but that is how it felt, looking at Chloe sitting next to her, the soft light of the beginnings of dusk glowing all around her.

Thankfully, Chloe at least still seemed to have some kind of functional systems left.

“I had a lot of fun this afternoon. I have all my sisters, but that was the first time I’ve really sat down and done something recreational with other androids. It’s nice.”

“Yeah. We aren’t a bad crew to pal around with, I think. But guess I’m biased.”

“Thank you for inviting me North, truly. It means a lot. To be a part of this with you, and to have a place here.”

The words were sincere, soft. Despite the ants crawling around inside her casing North could hardly resist looking at her when she spoke like that. And Chloe seemed to be looking at her too, searching for something, and North held her gaze. Hoping that she found it.

“You don’t have to thank me. I like spending time with you, Chloe.”

For a moment North hardly realized it was happening, and then her sensors came roaring back to life, registering each thing with overwhelming clarity. The closeness between their bodies as Chloe leaned in. The feeling of soft lips on her cheek. The twitch of a hand still under hers that had North tightening her hold without a second thought. The light brush of hair against her.

The kiss itself was tentative, short, but North was sure she had never felt anything better.

As they pulled apart there was a blush spread out across Chloe’s face, and North smiled. More blue. It suited her, she thought.

“Maybe next time we could plan something together. Just the two of us.”

“I think I’d like that. A lot.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you to everyone who made it to the end! catch me [on tumblr](http://depmode.tumblr.com/) if you like. we can yell about north/chloe, we can yell about markus/connor, we can yell about the unending horror that is david cage's mind, we can just yell in general. you know how it goes.


End file.
